By Julie Murdock
While many BYU students are hitting the snooze button on their alarm clocks, the women”s swimming team has already put in two hours of intense training.
Participating on a high school swim team is a different world than competing at the collegiate level, said women”s swimming head coach Stan Crump.
“I would go up against any sport, anytime, that swimmers consistently train harder, longer and more, and are the fittest athletes in the world. Nobody trains like swimmers — nobody,” he said.
Crump works the women at least four hours a day, starting at 6:30 a.m. for cross training.
The morning workout alternates between weights, stretching, plyometrics, running, biking, jumping, and an hour of swimming, he said.
Senior swimmers Jennifer Tasker and team captain Melissa Thompson agree that cross training makes a huge difference, but also takes more dedication.
“You have to have a love for the sport … You can”t be here just because it”s paying your scholarship or your parents want you here,” Tasker said. “You have to be here because you want to be or you”ll be miserable.”
Another two hours of intense swimming in the afternoon help the women keep their skills sharp and strokes efficient.
For those who don”t know the amount of aerobic fitness a swimming workout requires, Crump said to compare it to running.
“If you run four miles, it would be like swimming one mile, so if we swim a 50,000-yard week, that”s 29 miles a week, or like running 116 miles a week,” Crump said.
Freshman swimmer Monica Ferrell said swimming at the college level is more intense and requires more commitment and mental discipline.
“In college the whole team is awesome. Everyone is good instead of just a few good swimmers and the rest of the team there just for fun like in high school,” Ferrell said.
A skill needed by swimmers is the ability to stay focused and motivated with little feedback, Crump said.
“A basketball player, for example, shoots at that basket and it goes in; that”s immediate precise feedback. A swimmer has their head in the water, can”t hear anything, can only see the black line, so they don”t get feedback like other athletes do,” Crump said.
Swimming definitely has a dark side, at least for the women”s team.
The women shave their legs right before an important meet to cut off any dead skin, Thompson said.
Not only does this give them a physical edge, but it also gives them a mental edge.
“You shave everything — arms, legs — it makes you feel like your flying through the water,” she said.
The Cougar women have been growing their leg hair since the second week in August and will not be able to shave again until the Mountain West Conference Championships next month, Thompson said.
Since some swimmers are only allowed to shave their legs once or twice a year, it”s a huge deal when the big day comes.
It”s a good thing Utah has cold weather so the girls can disguise the unsightly leg hair with pants and long skirts, Tasker said.
